The trip to Florida wasn't all sad stuff. My Aunt's funeral was uplifting, so many people had such good things to say about her. She was gracious and kind and a wonderful role model to live up to.
While down in the Sunshine State (where we were just about guaranteed a big blast of heavy rain every afternoon), my Sissy and I road tripped it from coast to coast and saw family (and antique shops) all the way.
We stayed with baby bro, Randy, and his family in Jacksonville. This mosaic is of my furry little niece and nephews. (Yep, that represents more Picassa fun time there, I learned a few more editing tricks!)
Randy and Kevin's garden is set up as an open invitation for fairies to come and play in the flowers.
Butterflies too! The yard is pesticide free, so the soon to be butterflies will be safe.
The place was so inviting, all I wanted to do was explore all the nooks and crannies, because there were such delightful surprises tucked in under the blooms!
And what did I buy on the trip? Well, I have to say that my hat whispering skills were top notch!
It was heart breaking to see that Mt. Dora is no longer chocked full of antique shops. Even so, we did manage to keep busy and I over filled my suitcase. To the point that it was over the weight limits, and I thought I'd have to stuff my carry on bag full of the heaviest stuff (5 rolls of gorgeous old wallpaper for $2.99!!!) But the Southwest Airlines agent let me leave it as is and didn't charge me for the overweight bag. SW is always the BEST.
These girls were so wrong, they were right. They caught my eye right away, well, with those garishly bright colors how could I miss them? But I saw potential in them, even if they are so unattractive they are too embarrassed to look at the camera as is.
First thing I did was cut those extra long, monkey styled arms in half! Then, on this one, I pulled off the brightest of the trims, and added some pretty pastels. Old crocheted lace, millinery flowers, a new hat (made from velvet flower petals), and of course, some fairy wings!
Now she is feeling self confident in her appearance and is saucily looking right into the eye of the camera.
Her formally red, white, and blue sister (who looked a bit too much like Wonder Woman to start with) really had a beautiful design of sequins, I just couldn't live with the colors. So, a little bit of spray paint with glitter sprinkled on while the paint was still wet gave her a makeover.
She also got a flower petal hat, more flowers on her gown, jewelry and a magic wand made from a hat pin. And of course, no more monkey arms. She has dainty little fairy wings, that don't show in this photo.
Sometimes I wonder about what I spend my time on. I am so far behind from being gone on one trip after another and I know I need to get caught up, get things listed on line and clean up my Etsy and Boutique, but I couldn't help myself. I saw these poor ugly ducklings and had to be their fairy godmother and turn them into swans!
I'm also finishing up the books I promised to list and will add all the new items to the shop at once and have a much needed makeover there too.
For now, it is back to my job as a fairy godmother, there are a few of those girls still waiting for my help!
Oh, and the winner of the June giveaway is:
Becca of Bluebirds and Roses. She was one of my very first blog friends, how nice!
Don't forget, a new contest starts today! All comments, all month are in the drawing for whatever the heck that prize will be.
glad you had a little fun along the way! the hats! oh my
What a beautiful post Karla!
Karla,
A little trick I always practiced when travelling was to mail my purchases back home. Now with the flat rate priority boxes it is a lot cheaper to do so. And, the best part, they will be waiting for you when you arrive. :O)
Love the little ladies, especially AFTER the makeover!
Congrats to Becca! Lucky girl! I was in Florida too, but I never found one inch of what so ever wallpaper, mmmm perhaps we shouldn’t have stayed in Kissimee. Quite an experience, though no vintage wallpaper…
Your doll rescue is beautiful. I get so much inspiration from your projects. I now look at EVERYTHING with a different eye!
Blessings,
Christine
Karla, you are a stinker…do you ever NOT find hats…now that would be a surprise…Randy has beautiful children…hee hee…i like how you used the focal color for those pics, very nice…those little dolls are cute too, of course i esp like the wee lass in pink…i’m glad you found some happy things too on your trip…hugs!!!
ps: don’t even get me started on the fact that you found wallpaper too…
Karla,
You are the wonderful vintage make over artist….I love the “new” old dolls! I am heading to Florida on Saturday to see my parents in Ormond Beach. I hear them talk about Mt. Dora, so it must not be too far away. Then I am off to Orlando on Tue for a big track meet with my daughter. Wish I could find pretty hats in Fl…you did well.
You have improved those dolls a thousand-fold! I tend to see dolls and think creepy, but yours really look nice — AFTER the fixes! My BFF lives in FL and I realize it’s time for us to do another antique road trip around her state! Nice to know there are still finds there.
~Marilee
Yes, I know just how you feel — some things, like your damsels in distress — just need to be a priority! How fun! I’m jealous of your wallpaper find!
I watch every month to see if my name pops up! 🙂 What a delightful surprise that it really did this month!! I am a happy winner!!
Those dolls look lovely w/o their monkey arms — I think they are pleased with their makeover!
Your brother’s faeree garden is charming!
🙂
~Becca~
Oh such lovlies you found!! I’m green with envy about the wallpaper … I search for it constantly here and have only found it twice. How sad is that?! Oh boy trouble is we need some good vintage shops around here. Oh well. Congrats to the winner girl of June’s fabulous prize {I’m green about that too}. *wink*
I think your niece and nephews are adorable! And that little garden! Randy has a real knack for creating magicical spaces! So sweet!
The doll makeover is so cute! It’s always way more fun and inspiring to work on new stuff….especially if you just got it home and can’t wait to get started!
Great eye candy, your photos are excellent.
Karen
It’s nice that you are content at at peace about your aunt. When you have a nice service, it makes a big difference.
You did a remarkable job with the dolls, especially the one you painted!
~elaine~
Glad to hear you managed a little bit of fun and family catch up time on the trip to Florida Karla. Those pooches are darling too.
Hugs ~ Kerryanne
i think i saw those girls on the show “what NOT to wear”….great makeover ladies.
Beautiful lovelies!!! I do hope you will be bringing these to SB Vendor night!
xoxo
Karla, You are a wonderful fairy godmother!
Hi, Karla,
I’m trying to catch up from my Paris trip and reading backwards. I’m sorry to hear about Aunt Caroline — she was a lucky woman to have you in your life. And I’m glad you found some joy in your trip (and that the hat whispering skills are still in good form!)
Will probably not comment on each post, but promise to go through them all to see what fun things I have missed!)
I am in love with that dachshunds face. I am glad to hear the funeral was lovely. Thank god you rescued those dolls! They would have spent the rest of their weird little lives in the shop in with no one to love them;)
I got quite a laugh out of the dolls. My Auntie and Uncle used to travel in their motor home and she had a whole row of those dolls – yes, in their original condition!
Darla
Such a sweet place! Thanks for the visit!! 🙂 I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for more fairies to add to our collections!
Christina
I live in Chicago in the summer and we have a home in Mt. Dora that we built 10 years ago. At that time Mt. dora had far more antique shops. Sadly they have found they could not afford to pay the rents that keep rising. They are being forced out plus ebay has hurt them a lot.
There is one antique mart on Highland St. which is downtown but a few blocks to the east. Also Renningers flea market is on every weekend with 3 Extravaganza weekends in Nov. Jan. & Feb.
It is a lovely town but too commercial now.
Hugs
FredaB
Karla,
What a haul! I cannot believe you got that wallpaper for so little. Do I understand you are an SB vendor? Are you bringing it to sell or will it be on your Etsy site. And hats? With flowers
Lusting…
Drooling…
Suz
P.S. I was amazed at the picture of your aunt in her nineties and loved the younger picture of her. She was lovely.
Sounds like a great trip and hearing such wonderful things about Aunt Caroline was wonderful.
Alison
next time you are down in Florida come visit…you always have a place. xoxo laura
Sometimes you make me laugh right out loud! Monkey-arms! Honestly though, shortening them made a world of difference–and your other makeover tricks turned them into some real sweeties:)
I love how the gnome is lying beneath the leaves. Way cute 🙂
Oh and have to say, everybody would love to have you as fairy godmother cause you can definitely turn something into a swan 🙂 Oh how happy those new fairies must have felt. New dresses, new wings, and lovely hats too. Yes, they sure are happy and glad that you have found them.
picasa is the best so easy to use! love the puppy pics and how you fancied up the girls they are so cute!
So sorry to hear about your Aunt Caroline, she lived to such an amazing age. God bless her – Rachaelxo